Parallel jaw spring clip and applicator



y 5, 1970 L. w. BLAKE 3,509,882

PARALLEL JAW SPRING CLIP AND APPLICATOR Filed Sept. 18, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet -l TjI; .4-

INVENTOR. LAWRENCE W. BLAKE Afforney May 5, 1970 L. w. BLAKE 3,509,882

PARALLEL JAW SPRING our AND APPLICATOR Filed Sept. 18, 19s? 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. LAWRENCE W. BLAKE Afforney United States Patent Olhce 3,509,882 Patented May 5, 1970 3,509,882 PARALLEL JAW SPRING CLIP AND APPLI'CATOR Lawrence W. Blake, Huntington Beach, Calif., asslgnor, by mesne assignments, to American Hospital Supply Corporation, Evanston, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Filed Sept. 18, 1967, Ser. No. 668,367 Int. Cl. A61b 17/12 US. Cl. 128-325 14 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A disposable, parallel ja'w, spring closing-pinch opening surgical clip having either toothed hard jaws or soft jaws or one of each. A scissors-type applicator is provided, having means to hold a clip in a plurality of angular positions relative to the applicator.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an improved parallel jaw spring clip for surgical use and an applicator for placing the clip on a vessel or tissue.

In many surgical operations a considerable number of spring clips is required to occlude severed blood vessels and for other purposes. The most common type of spring clip has smooth surfaced swinging jaws which are parallel when closed upon themselves but which are not parallel in the partially spread position they assume on a blood vessel. The lack of parallelism of the jaws sometimes makes it diflicult to completely occlude the vessel to stop bleeding. Also, the lack of parallelism and the smooth, hard surfaces of the jaws creates a tendency for the clips to slip off the vessels or other tissue.

Parallel jaw clamps designed for other purposes are not adaptable to surgical use because of their size, weight and cost. Surgical clips must be small and light in weight. It is also highly desirable that they be sufiiciently inexpensive to be used as disposable items. Sterilization is costly and in the case of parallel jaw mechanisms, complete cleaning and sterilization cannot be accomplished without taking the clips apart. The taking apart and re-assembling of a large number of clips after an operation is obviously to be avoided.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present clip accomplishes complete occlusion of a vessel, is light in weight, secure in its attachment to a vessel or other tissue and inexpensive to manufacture. It has two jaws which remain in parallelism throughout their opening and closing movements. The jaws are mounted on two telescoping members which are spring closed and pinch opened. One or both of the jaws may be a toothed hard jaw or one or both of the jaws may be equipped with a resilient soft jaw element, both types of jaws providing complete occlusion of blood vessels and secure retention thereon. Since the clips are disposable, there is no problem of cleaning and sterilizing the jaw mechanisms and more reliable sterility is achieved.

An applicator is provided for holding the clip open and placing it on a vessel or tissue. The clip and applicator have interengaging parts to hold the clip fixedly in a selected position relative to the applicator.

Objects of the invention are to provide an improved surgical clip, to provide a clip which subjects a vessel to minimum torque and distortion for occlusion, to provide a clip having parallel jaw movement, to provide a parallel jaw spring clip which is compact, light in weight and well balanced, to provide a clip which is spring closed and pinch opened, to provide a clip having either hard or soft jaws or a combination of hard and soft jaws, to provide a good quality clip of the type described which may be inexpensively constructed of plastic parts and used as a disposable item and to provide an applicator which will hold the clip in a plurality of selected positions.

The invention will be better understood and the foregoing and other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description of certain preferred embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Various changes may be made, however, in the details of construction and arrangementpf parts and certain features may be used without others. All such modifications within the scope of the appended claims are included in the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevation view showing a hard jaw clip embodying the principles of the invention, pinched to open position;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view with parts in section, showing the clip in closed position on a blood vessel;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view of the clip;

FIG. 4 is a view on the line 4-4 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of a clip having one hard jaw and one soft jaw;

FIG. 6 is a view on the line 6-6 in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an elevation view showing a clip in the grasp of an applicator;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view on the line 9-9 in FIG. 8; and

-FIG. 10 is an enlarged view on the line 10-10 in FIG. 9.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring first to FIG. 2, the opposed jaws 10 and 11 are molded integrally with the inner ends of two telescoping members 12 and 13 respectively. Member 12 may be referred to as a plunger and member 13 a barrel for the plunger. The hollow plunger 12 is received 'Within the barrel 13 and the latter is provided with a longitudinal slot 14 through which the jaw 10 projects in parallelism with jaw 11. Slot 14 prevents the two jaws from rotating out of alignment with each other and the sliding fit between the plunger 12 and barrel 13 prevents the outer ends of the jaws from spreading apart on a clamped object.

A cap 15 is secured in the lower end of plunger 12 after the plunger has been inserted in the upper end of the barrel as shown. The parts 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15 are preferably made of a suitable plastic.

A metal compression spring 20 is contained within the plunger and barrel and seated on cap 15. A plastic cap 21 having a spring guide pin 22 is secured in the upper end of barrel 13. The upper end of spring 20 seats against cap 21 to urge the jaws 10 and 11 toward closed position. The jaws are separated by pinching the caps 15 and 21 as shown in FIG. 1. The caps form pinch grips for convenient grasp between the fingers. Barrel 13 is preferably equipped with a projection 23 having an opening 24 for tying the clip to a support, if desired.

FIG. 2 illustrates how a vessel V is completely occluded by the parallel action of the jaws 10 and 11. When conventional clip jaws open with a pivotal movement, they are not in parallelism in clamped position on a vessel whereby one side of the vessel may be damaged by pinching it excessively hard in order to completely occlude the opposite side of the lumen. With the present parallel jaw arrangement, occlusive pressur is minimized and it is unfiform across the vessel with minimum distortion to the vessel.

selIThe parallel relation'o'f the jaws in clamped position" produces no forces tending to cause the clip to slip oif the vessel. When the jaws are not parallel in clamped position, a wedging action results, producing a component of force on the vessel in a direction away from the vertex of the angle between the jaws. Thus, the present clip is not only inherently stable on a clamped object but it is afforded means of positive retention through teeth 25.

' The embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is the same as the embodiment just described except that the lower jaw 11a is equipped with a rubber soft jaw element 30. Teeth 25 on the upper jaw are arranged along opposite sides of the jaw leaving a hollow or channel 31 extending between the two rows of teeth. Soft jaw element 30 deflects the vessel into channel 31 to aid in accomplishing complete occlusion of the vesel with minimum jaw pressure as shown in FIG. 6. However, the upper jaw 10 may I 7 also be equipped with a soft jaw element 30 to provide a clip having two soft jaws, if desired.

End caps 15 and 21 are provided with conical depressions 40 and radial notches 41 to cooperate with the clip applicator 45 asshown in FIGS. 7 to 9. Applicator 45 is a scissors-type clamp having a jaw 46 integral with a handle portion 47 and a jaw 48 integral with a handle portion 49. These two members are pivotally connected together at 50 and the handle portions are equipped with a conventional ratchet locking device 51.

Each jaw member 46 and 48 has at its extremity a conical projection 55 to fit a conical depression 40 and a wedge-shaped fin 56 radial to the projection 55 to engage a notch 41. Thus, the clip may be held in any one of a number of discreet angular positions relative to the applicator as shown in broken lines in FIG. 8. The engagement of fins 56 in notches 41 prevents rotation of the clip in the applicator. Ratchet 51 holds the clip in open position as shown in FIG. 7 until the clip has been applied to a vessel and the ratchet released by the operator.

Having now described my invention and in what manner the same may be used, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A spring close-pinch open clip comprising a barrel having a radial jaw on one end thereof, said barrel having a longitudinal slot extending from its opposite end to said jaw, a hollow plunger in said barrel having a radial jaw on one end of the plunger slidable in said slot, spring seats in the opposite ends of said barrel and plunger, and

a compression spring in said barrel and plunger'seated 6. A clip as defined in claim 4, both of said jaws havingteth.

7. A clip as defined in claim 4, the other jaw having a soft, compressible clamping surface.

8. A clip as defined in claim 2, said caps having means engageable .by an applicator and arranged toprevent relative. rotation between the clip and applicator.

9. A clip as defined in claim 8, said means comprising an external conical depression in each cap and radial notches intersecting said depression. 3

10. A spring close-pinch op'en clipcomprising a pair of telescoping members, a pair of parallel jaws on the respective members, a'spring. interconnecting said members to close said jaws against. each other, and a pair of pinch grips onthe' respective members for "opening the jaws, said pinch grips having means engage'able by anapplicator and arranged to prevent relative rotation between the'clip and applicator, saidmeans comprising oppositely directed conical depressions in said pinch grips and radial notches intersecting said depressions. 1

11. A clip as defined in claim 10 including an applicator having a pair of jaws, anda'clip engaging means on said jalws arrangedto fit said means on said pinch grips to prevent said relatiye rotation.

12. A jaw clip and applicator, said clip having" a pair of pinch grips for adjusting its jaws, said applicator having a. pair of jaws, interengaging means on said pinch grips and applicator, jaws to hold the clipbetween said applicator jaws. and prevent relative rotation between the clip and applicaton'said interengaging means comprising conical depressions in said pinch grips and radial notches intersecting said depressions, conical projections on said applicator jaws arranged to enter said depressions, and radial fins on said projections arranged to enter said notches. v

13. A jaw clip and applicator, as defined in claim 12 including ratchet means onsaid applicator arranged to lockits jaws in adjusted position.

14. A clip applicator comprising a pair of pivotally connected jaws, a pair of opposed conical projections on said jaws, radial fins on said projections, a pair .of handle members for operatingsaid jaws, and ratchet locking means on said handle members.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,319,377 Wallace et al. --24 263 LAWRENCE -w. TRAPP, Primary Examiner 

